Sex matters when it comes to cornea transplants — at least for women. Corneas are low on the list of organs that cause rejection, but it happens more often when women receive corneas from men, researchers report online July 22 in the American Journal of Transplantation. In data from nearly 17,000 transplants, 220 of every […]

President Barack Obama’s “Cancer Moonshot” now has a scientific flight plan. It calls for better cooperation among researchers and institutions, aggressive pursuit of immunotherapy and making better use of proven cancer prevention strategies. Called the Blue Ribbon Panel Report, the document was approved September 7 by the National Cancer Advisory Board, part of the National […]

A 6-month-old baby boy may have opened the door to a new world of reproductive medicine. He is the first person born from a controversial new technique for preventing mitochondrial diseases by creating a “three-parent baby” — a child in which the vast majority of DNA comes from the mother and father and a small […]

Australia’s early settlers hit the ground running, or least walking with swift determination. After arriving on the continent’s northwest coast by around 50,000 years ago, humans reached Australia’s southeastern interior within a thousand years or so, researchers find. This ancient trip covered more than 2,000 kilometers through terrain that, although stark and dry today, featured […]

A nearby ultracool star harbors seven Earth-sized planets, three with orbits that potentially put them in a habitable zone. That makes the system, around a star called TRAPPIST-1, a prime target in the search for signs of alien life. Its discovery also hints that many more cousins of Earth may be out there than astronomers […]

Researchers have pinpointed a gene that keeps important brain cells in mice from crossing their wires, providing a possible link between brain wiring and mood disorders like depression. Without the gene, called Pcdhαc2, mice acted more depressed, researchers report April 28 in Science. Nerve cells, or neurons, that produce the chemical messenger molecule serotonin extend […]

Face-to-face, a human and a chimpanzee are easy to tell apart. The two species share a common primate ancestor, but over millions of years, their characteristics have morphed into easily distinguishable features. Chimps developed prominent brow ridges, flat noses, low-crowned heads and protruding muzzles. Human noses jut from relatively flat faces under high-domed crowns. Those […]

A peek at tardigrades’ genetic diaries may dispel a rumor about an amazing feat the tiny creatures were supposed to perform: borrowing large numbers of genes from other organisms. Tardigrades — also known as water bears and moss piglets — hardly ever borrow DNA from other creatures, researchers report July 27 in PLOS Biology. New […]

Islamic militants and their fiercest opponents fight and die for intensely spiritual reasons, a new report finds. Islamic State (also known as ISIS) soldiers and Kurds who have fiercely battled them sacrifice themselves for sacred, nonnegotiable values, says a team led by anthropologist Scott Atran of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. These soldiers’ […]

Permanent markers aren’t so permanent after all. All that’s required to peel the ink from glass is the surface tension of water and a little patience, scientists report. When glass marked with permanent ink is slowly dipped in water, the writing lifts off the glass and floats intact atop the water. For the first time, […]